This Sickle Cell Scholar program will provide 75% salary support for a junior faculty hematologist at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children to engage in clinical and basic science research. The goal is program is to assist with the development of this individual into a productive independent investigator in the field of sickle cell disease. The resources for this individual will include patients receiving state-of-the-art clinical care at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children (SCHC) and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (TJU), the clinical research staff of the Marian Anderson Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center, and the laboratory facilities and education programs of the Cardeza Foundation for Hematology Research at Thomas Jefferson University. Dr Carlton Dampier, the Center Co-PI at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, and Dr Marie Stuart, the Center PI at Thomas Jefferson University, will serve as mentors for this individual. It is anticipated that this individual will develop a research program that will complement the ongoing hematologic and clinical research of the Center's investigators.